Rio Grande Gravels

[MrMike]

Nov 14, 2012 9:09:54 GMT -5 jamesp said:

Some more sawn Rio G pebbles

www.flickr.com/photos/67205364@N06/sets/72157627611858808/

Of course James has built the largest tire tumbler in history. Is that the one that beat the hell out of the rocks ?

[coloradocliff]

Yep Beat em bad.. A real gravel factory.. grinning  at Jim...jamesp
Aren't you ever going to grow up Mike?
Cute Baby.. Probably not related to you huh? MrMike
Like this awesome thread of Mel's and Jim?  Thanks Mel... Sabre52
Been eating this area up. Texas and the Uvalde Gravels are super interesting.

[jamesp]

Jul 11, 2017 18:08:07 GMT -5 MrMike said:

Nov 14, 2012 9:09:54 GMT -5 jamesp said:

Some more sawn Rio G pebbles

www.flickr.com/photos/67205364@N06/sets/72157627611858808/

Of course James has built the largest tire tumbler in history. Is that the one that beat the hell out of the rocks ?

They were as if thousands of tiny meteors hit them.
I learned the reason for having a tumbler 3/4 full.
A tall tire 15% full is a bruising machine.

[jamesp]

Jul 11, 2017 20:49:41 GMT -5 coloradocliff said:

Yep Beat em bad.. A real gravel factory.. grinning  at Jim...jamesp
Aren't you ever going to grow up Mike?
Cute Baby.. Probably not related to you huh? MrMike
Like this awesome thread of Mel's and Jim?  Thanks Mel... Sabre52
Been eating this area up. Texas and the Uvalde Gravels are super interesting.

Must experience collecting on the Rio. Never a dull moment.

[MrMike]

Newest grandson, spitting image except I've got more hair. I'm bored with my local hounding areas, gotta go West some day!

[coloradocliff]

Jul 11, 2017 21:01:30 GMT -5 jamesp said:

Jul 11, 2017 20:49:41 GMT -5 coloradocliff said:

Yep Beat em bad.. A real gravel factory.. grinning  at Jim...jamesp
Aren't you ever going to grow up Mike?
Cute Baby.. Probably not related to you huh? MrMike
Like this awesome thread of Mel's and Jim?  Thanks Mel... Sabre52
Been eating this area up. Texas and the Uvalde Gravels are super interesting.

Must experience collecting on the Rio. Never a dull moment.

I imported a lot of pottery and such from Mexico for many years. Crossed back and forth the Mexican border hundreds of times,speak good Spanish, blend in and still feel like a "mark".

Tough area. Could only carry my big knife and it wasn't enough even with my background. Of course a 180 pound German Shep always helped. Might be a good thing to make friends with a rancher who has land where the ancient rivers deposited on those upper terraces. Spend more time looking down for rocks and less time looking over your shoulder.

jamesp

[coloradocliff]

Jul 11, 2017 21:05:50 GMT -5 MrMike said:

Newest grandson, spitting image except I've got more hair. I'm bored with my local hounding areas, gotta go West some day!

West and a little south little brother..

 If I can get it together and get sold out and moved to Oregon, the doors always open and there's fresh towels in the extra room.

Bring that cute baby if you can steal him. Quite the looker for sure. Lucky you ! No grandkids here.

[jamesp]

Jul 11, 2017 21:11:53 GMT -5 coloradocliff said:

Jul 11, 2017 21:01:30 GMT -5 jamesp said:

Must experience collecting on the Rio. Never a dull moment.

I imported a lot of pottery and such from Mexico for many years. Crossed back and forth the Mexican border hundreds of times,speak good Spanish, blend in and still feel like a "mark".

Tough area. Could only carry my big knife and it wasn't enough even with my background. Of course a 180 pound German Shep always helped. Might be a good thing to make friends with a rancher who has land where the ancient rivers deposited on those upper terraces. Spend more time looking down for rocks and less time looking over your shoulder.

jamesp

5 minutes on the wrong side of the tracks in Laredo, TX is an eye opener.
Got turned around in that town. No thanks. Great agates so they say. Not recommended.

[coloradocliff]

Jul 11, 2017 21:29:23 GMT -5 jamesp said:

Jul 11, 2017 21:11:53 GMT -5 coloradocliff said:

I imported a lot of pottery and such from Mexico for many years. Crossed back and forth the Mexican border hundreds of times,speak good Spanish, blend in and still feel like a "mark".

Tough area. Could only carry my big knife and it wasn't enough even with my background. Of course a 180 pound German Shep always helped. Might be a good thing to make friends with a rancher who has land where the ancient rivers deposited on those upper terraces. Spend more time looking down for rocks and less time looking over your shoulder.

jamesp

5 minutes on the wrong side of the tracks in Laredo, TX is an eye opener.
Got turned around in that town. No thanks. Great agates so they say. Not recommended.

Laredo not as bad as some places. Juarez and Mexicali are worse.

I traded with the locals and went to their houses to pick up different pieces of things made in their cottage industries,

Always was leery and was always warned  a lot by suppliers. Only had to use the knife once in Tecate to get away and back across the border. Did that for years. Found pottery and handcrafts fascinating. Still have a lot of neat pottery. Am a big fan and collector of Juan Quezada's work and his family.
Kilns fired by scrap wood and brought to final temps with propane injected thru the bottom of furnace with a 12 ft long rusted pipe with holes cut in it.

Sat many a night with a bunch of alfarerios drinking beer , talking, teasing and tending the kiln.  jamesp

[jamesp]

Zapata was half employed by the boarder patrol. Felt safe there coloradocliff. I suppose Lake Falcon was a barrier to so much smuggling activity.
Another stretch of the Rio that had great access to rock collecting was along Big Bend but rock collecting is not allowed there being park land.
Few roads in and few out at Big Bend. Easy to police. A death wish for a smuggler to attempt coming in across Big Bend Park. Rugged territory.
Most of the towns from west of Brewster County to Laredo along the Rio were not conducive to safety.
I drove down and looked for access to the River over that stretch and scored no safe access excepting Lake Armistead.
Armistead may be a hot spot but I don't think the water drops like Lake Falcon.
Lake Falcon is about always low, especially in the winter.

A shame, the Rio along Big Bend was not just small gravels but many larger cobbles. Big agate scores.
Maybe you could collect on the Mexican side of the river There was no humans there. Very desolate.

[jamesp]

Santa Ellena canon along Big Bend at higher water. Man would the gravel bars here be a pleasure to collect.
No threat of smugglers crossing here lol. Maybe they are in boats though.

[jamesp]

I wanna be here, Rio along Big Bend at lower river flow.

[jamesp]

Boquillas Canyon well down stream along Big Bend.
Truth be known, I would like to spend a lot of my retirement years boating along the Rio along Big Bend.

[HankRocks]

I think you might be a bit disappointed with the collecting here, not with the scenery which is very nice. We spent a bit of time over the years looking at the rocks along the river banks around Lajitas as I had a Condo there for 22 years. Very little agate or wood to be found. May have picked up 2 or 3 pieces in that time. It lends some support to the the idea that most of the Lower Rio Grande material weathered out of old areas further east and south. Of course most of the rocks along the river where we were are fairly well coated. No coating can hide Pet Wood and Palm.

I have a book on Order from the University of Texas that will hopefully give me some better insight into why different rocks are where they are in Texas.

www.beg.utexas.edu/node/1529

Henry

[coloradocliff]

Jul 12, 2017 9:11:59 GMT -5 HankRocks said:

I think you might be a bit disappointed with the collecting here, not with the scenery which is very nice. We spent a bit of time over the years looking at the rocks along the river banks around Lajitas as I had a Condo there for 22 years. Very little agate or wood to be found. May have picked up 2 or 3 pieces in that time. It lends some support to the the idea that most of the Lower Rio Grande material weathered out of old areas further east and south. Of course most of the rocks along the river where we were are fairly well coated. No coating can hide Pet Wood and Palm.

I have a book on Order from the University of Texas that will hopefully give me some better insight into why different rocks are where they are in Texas.

www.beg.utexas.edu/node/1529

Henry

Thanks for the grat input Hank. Saves some researching. Have been reading old threads here and when I find an appropriate one kick it back to the fore . That way people like, you, Mr Mike , Jim P and Mel can pool info. great stuff ,. Be curious what the books turns up. Old geological papers don't really identify the minerals like we need. Liking the Uvalde materials for sure.

[coloradocliff]

Jul 12, 2017 6:20:51 GMT -5 jamesp said:

Zapata was half employed by the boarder patrol. Felt safe there coloradocliff . I suppose Lake Falcon was a barrier to so much smuggling activity.
Another stretch of the Rio that had great access to rock collecting was along Big Bend but rock collecting is not allowed there being park land.
Few roads in and few out at Big Bend. Easy to police. A death wish for a smuggler to attempt coming in across Big Bend Park. Rugged territory.
Most of the towns from west of Brewster County to Laredo along the Rio were not conducive to safety.
I drove down and looked for access to the River over that stretch and scored no safe access excepting Lake Armistead.
Armistead may be a hot spot but I don't think the water drops like Lake Falcon.
Lake Falcon is about always low, especially in the winter.

A shame, the Rio along Big Bend was not just small gravels but many larger cobbles. Big agate scores.
Maybe you could collect on the Mexican side of the river There was no humans there. Very desolate.

The terraces above the river and away from the present day water courses are still getting a lot of my thoughts.  Any kind of mapping done that you are aware of that might hint at ancient flows? Terri Smith might know.

               Mexico is so corrupt and would have to bribe half the country to get one rock out.

The Mexican rock people I know are from Durango and would have no idea of who to pay off or where to collect in Chihuahua. . Mexicans aren't as well traveled as GAbachos,(us)

 Interesting that you want to retire to that area. Why not buy a little ranch along the border or a piece of a big one? Or look at a surface mineral lease for a ranch with rich resources for say maybe 5 years. Be simpler than buying and you might be bored after a few years. Be cool to be  a rock trader huh?

 Most smuggling that I saw was t regular crossings. Way out in the desert brings logistical problems. They need to be across the border from a large gringo population so they can quickly get lost in the crowd. Both human and drug smuggling. Ie Yuma Az had a big problem a few years back with big SUVs being stolen one day in Yuma and the same night a small group of the same SUVs would do a thunder run across the border and quickly blend before being found. The vehicles were abandoned after the quick crossing trip.

[Sabre52]

According to my buddy Clayton, around Carrizo Springs, the current river gravel bars are real good collecting but also everywhere on the higher terraces of the ranch away form the river, even a distance from it, wherever the ranch roads cut gravel it is super rich in agate and jasper nodules. Very hot there so he says he seldom even gets far from the road but rather just drive along till he sees rock in the cut and stops to fill his buckets. Very easy collecting.

I've mentioned this before but another buddy has a gravel yard that imports gravel from Eagle Pass. When the quarry seems to be in the topmost layers, the gravel is super rich in agate and I can fill a five gallon bucket in an hour. Now they seem to be deeper, in a different sort of gravel, and I'm lucky if I find a little wood and an agate or two at all. I'm thinking the best layers are the higher layers along that part of the river.....Mel

[coloradocliff]

Jul 12, 2017 14:32:51 GMT -5 Sabre52 said:

According to my buddy Clayton, around Carrizo Springs, the current river gravel bars are real good collecting but also everywhere on the higher terraces of the ranch away form the river, even a distance from it, wherever the ranch roads cut gravel it is super rich in agate and jasper nodules. Very hot there so he says he seldom even gets far from the road but rather just drive along till he sees rock in the cut and stops to fill his buckets. Very easy collecting.

I've mentioned this before but another buddy has a gravel yard that imports gravel from Eagle Pass. When the quarry seems to be in the topmost layers, the gravel is super rich in agate and I can fill a five gallon bucket in an hour. Now they seem to be deeper, in a different sort of gravel, and I'm lucky if I find a little wood and an agate or two at all. I'm thinking the best layers are the higher layers along that part of the river.....Mel

Thanks Mel,

You're the best.. Best in that part of the world for sure.

Carrizo is just south of Uvalde, Tx so its right in the heart of it all. If the ranchers around there are like here. They don't cotton to strangers on their roads and doing what not to their property. Some liberals have made life tough for a lot of working people and I understand why the ranchers aren't as accommodating as they once were.   Very interesting that the agates and wood are in the upper portions of the Uvalde, Must have been a hella lot of water for a while or one giant dam burst up stream. Remember reading about a geologic event like that but need to find and study it more. Extensive gravels. Any guess on how deep tha agates occur? From surface to  6 ft or in the case of a huge event carrying a mass load of heavy agates and wood. Maybe a foot or even less.  Would need to collect a few years to get an idea. How's that Devil's Claw doing, Bet its growing like a weed.

   You reading these words of wisdom boys?? MrMike ,  @hankrocks  , jamesp ,

[jamesp]

I did some sampling. Roughly 100 500 1500 3000 6000 yards from the lake shore. After 2000 to 3000 yards the agate density dropped quickly.
But that may be all different a short distance upstream or downstream.
I had a hard time finding rhyme nor reason of the density of agate.
Close to the lake, say within 2000 yards it was thick.

Some of the lake bluffs were 30 feet tall solid caliche and seemed to have agate top to bottom.
Some areas were thick in wood.
I really payed attention to the agate density. Some spots would have lots of 10 pound cobbles. Others 2 pounders.

One point out in the lake would be low density, the next point 500 yards upstream may be covered with agate.

Never really did well figuring out where the rich areas were.
About every time a pile of 5-8 inch cobbles were bought in and dumped for erosion control or road base fine specimens were present.

There was about a dozen abandoned gravel/caliche pits 10 to 20 feet deep. They too varied in density.

[jamesp]

Jul 12, 2017 9:11:59 GMT -5 HankRocks said:

I think you might be a bit disappointed with the collecting here, not with the scenery which is very nice. We spent a bit of time over the years looking at the rocks along the river banks around Lajitas as I had a Condo there for 22 years. Very little agate or wood to be found. May have picked up 2 or 3 pieces in that time. It lends some support to the the idea that most of the Lower Rio Grande material weathered out of old areas further east and south. Of course most of the rocks along the river where we were are fairly well coated. No coating can hide Pet Wood and Palm.

I have a book on Order from the University of Texas that will hopefully give me some better insight into why different rocks are where they are in Texas.

www.beg.utexas.edu/node/1529

Henry

Thanks for the heads up Henry. Lake Falcon is way more famous for it's agates than Armistead upstream. Both lakes fluctuate in level providing excellent exposure.
The high knobs around the center section of Lake Falcon are clearly capped with bigger cobbles. Apparently ancient turns in the river. And great agate rich spots.
I collected the north section of the lake too. It did not have the extended low water exposure like the deeper middle section of the lake. Less agate and go figure.

I tried to get permission to enter the much larger gravel quarry just above/up stream of Falcon Lake right on the river and failed.
But was able to walk the gravel roads close to it. Figuring the gravel came from that quarry. It did not seem as agate rich as the quarries at the mid point of the lake.